Usually doctors and family members can only imagine what it feels like to experience the delusions and hallucinations that can haunt someone with schizophrenia. An engineer and a psychiatrist at Western Psychiatric Institute collaborated to form a virtual reality simulation of the disease. In one scenario, the person is walking in downtown Pittsburgh. The walk is jarring - voices tell you to pick up knives, visuals appear that may not really be there.
The program is meant to be used as a training tool - for medical residents and crisis intervention teams in police departments. It can also be used to help family members of a person with the disease understand what their relative is going through.
To listen to a report about the program click here.
Monday, April 27, 2009
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